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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

10 Steps of Writing (According to Nick Miller)

So New Girl has just started back up, AND they put season two on Netflix recently, so we all know what I've been doing. And since I've been working so much more seriously on my current work in progress (and preparing it to hopefully snag an agent), watching Nick Miller write his book (Z is for Zombie) is all the more hilarious. And so, without further ado, here are the ten steps of getting on with your manuscript, according to Nick Miller:

1. Brilliance strikes. It is THE BEST IDEA EVER.

2. The world is going to love this book! You can already imagine your name on the NYT Bestselling list for weeks on end.

3. BUT THEN, you actually sit down to write that perfect scene. It is so beautiful in your head; you just know that it will be equally as magnificent on the page. Until...

4. From there, it goes a little something like this:

5. Until you just can't take it anymore and all of your frustrations just come out in an entirely inappropriate way.

6. When your non-writer friends find you in such a state, they try to fix your problems. But they just don't understand! And even though you've spent hours procrastinating by reading other writers' blogs that are chock full of advice, you're still like:

7. Maybe reevaluating your writing career will help? It's time for a little soul searching.

8. And after you imagine every other career possibility, you realize that there is no other choice. There can only be one career for you, and you are willing to do whatever it takes. YOU WILL BE THE NEXT ERNEST HEMINGWAY.

9. And then you just push on, and don't even care that what you're writing doesn't make sense, because you are writing. A REAL book. Besides, you can get rid of all that sucky stuff during revisions, right?

10. And it doesn't matter what the final outcome is, because you are so proud that you actually WROTE SOMETHING. And even though you didn't leave the house or put clothes on today, that indecipherable manuscript is no small feat.